Chapter 1: Confession, Rejected?
Linjiang City, Shengze Jiayuan Residential Community.
Inside a dimly lit bedroom.
Jiang Zhou sat up groggily from the bed, his face filled with shock.
“I actually got reborn?”
He looked around at his current surroundings.
It was his childhood home.
The electric fan on the table was still running. Buzzing and rotating its head.
Everything here felt both familiar and unfamiliar to Jiang Zhou.
Before being reborn, Jiang Zhou was already thirty-five years old.
He was a senior executive at a foreign company, with an annual salary close to ten million.
On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, he got drunk and lit fireworks in a sewer.
He ended up igniting the methane gas in the shaft, causing an explosion.
He thought for sure he was going to die.
But unexpectedly, heaven gave him another chance at life.
Just then, Jiang Zhou felt something cool and wet on his face.
“Tears?” He touched his face, and his heart suddenly trembled.
“Could it be… I was reborn on the day my mom passed away?!”
Jiang Zhou took a deep breath and turned his head to see a Nokia 5230 on the table.
He turned on the phone. The date was June 11th, 2009.
Jiang Zhou knew this date well. It was the third day after he finished the college entrance exams.
His parents were safe and healthy. His test results were pretty good too.
So why did he fall asleep with tears in his eyes?
Back to age eighteen.
His memories were a chaotic mess.
He couldn’t remember why he had cried on June 11, 2009.
But before he could think it through, the answer appeared on his phone screen.
“Old Jiang, you haven’t replied to me all day. Are you okay?”
“You just got rejected by Chu Yuwei, right? No need to act like it’s the end of the world.”
“At our school, who hasn’t been rejected by her?”
“If everyone acted like you, Chengnan High would’ve become a graveyard!”
Jiang Zhou stared at the flood of QQ messages popping up on his screen and instantly remembered the sender.
His name was Guo Wei, his best buddy in high school.
They were classmates and got along really well.
But since they went to different universities, they gradually lost touch.
But… who was Chu Yuwei again?
Jiang Zhou thought hard, and memories began to return.
Chu Yuwei, the campus goddess of Chengnan High.
She had a devilishly perfect figure and a face so pure and delicate. It was the ultimate first love look.
Throughout their three years in high school, countless guys had fallen for her.
Jiang Zhou was definitely one of them.
Thinking of this, Jiang Zhou suddenly understood why there were tears on his face.
Because on June 11th, he confessed his feelings and failed.
The one who rejected him was Chu Yuwei.
But later in college, Jiang Zhou found a new love. So over time, he gradually forgot about Chu Yuwei.
“Damn, didn’t expect I was that sentimental back then. Crying in my sleep, what a freaking tragedy.” Jiang Zhou felt a mix of amusement and embarrassment.
Even though his body was eighteen again, his soul was already thirty-five years old.
He had long seen through all this romantic drama.
Besides, Jiang Zhou knew very well that he would meet the true love of his life in college.
So forgetting about Chu Yuwei made total sense.
Jiang Zhou opened the chat window: “Don’t worry, Old Lin. I’m fine.”
“Damn, finally! You really okay?”
“It’s just a high school beauty. I don’t care. College life’s where it’s at.”
Guo Wei replied quickly: “You haven’t even been to college yet. How do you know it’s better?”
“You misunderstood. I meant college girls.”
Jiang Zhou chuckled softly and jumped out of bed.
Just then, something by the bedside caught his attention.
It was a piece of paper filled with writing.
The heading — Suicide Note.
“Sorry, Mom and Dad. I was rejected by the girl I love.
I really can’t go on without her.
Because I love her so much, more than I love myself.
Don’t blame her. This was all my decision.
I want to use my life to prove how passionate my love is.”
Reading the “suicide note,” Jiang Zhou almost burst out swearing.
He had completely forgotten he used to be such a simp.
Damn, giving up life over a girl?
Was this what being young meant?
So freakin’ embarrassing.
A real man should be a player!
At the very least, simp for multiple girls — be a player simp!
If he wrote a suicide note, how did he not end up dead?
Jiang Zhou thought for a moment, and the memory came back.
Eighteen-year-old him had regrets after writing the note.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have turned on the fan before sleeping. He was still scared of overheating.
Yeah, that sounded more like him.
If he had actually died for a girl, that’d be way too pathetic.
Besides, his love for Chu Yuwei wasn’t nearly as deep as he’d written in that note.
Just then, Jiang Zhou’s bedroom door suddenly opened.
Ms. Yuan Youqin walked in with a broom and gave him a surprised look.
“You little rascal, why are you still at home?”
“Mom…” Jiang Zhou stood up emotionally and gave her a big bear hug.
The woman before him was his mother.
She had passed away when he was a sophomore in college.
Jiang Zhou had grieved for over a decade.
Yuan Youqin patted his head. “What are you suddenly hugging me for? You don’t have a fever, do you?”
“Mom… I haven’t seen you in over ten years…”
“Crazy kid. What nonsense are you saying?”
Jiang Zhou let go of his mom. “Oh right, where’s Dad?”
“He’s at work. But what about you? Why are you still at home?”
“Where else would I be?”
“Didn’t school notify you yesterday to go pick up your graduation certificate? Don’t tell me you still haven’t gone?”
Jiang Zhou scratched his head. “Maybe I overslept. I’ll go now.”
“Hurry up. When you get back, help me make dumplings.”
“Okay, I’ll bike over!” After saying that, Jiang Zhou rushed out of the house.
As he walked, his mind was spinning.
He had read tons of online novels, so of course, he knew all about rebirth.
A reborn person was destined to start a business, make a fortune, and marry a rich beauty.
But… how was he going to make money?
He didn’t know that much about 2009 events either.
Wasn’t the Antarctic research station “Kunlun Station” built that year?
Catch some penguins and sell them?
Cao Cao’s tomb was discovered, right?
Somali pirates hijacked the Sirius oil tanker and asked for three million in ransom.
The more Jiang Zhou thought, the darker his face got.
He couldn’t remember anything useful.
He should’ve watched more news back then.